The Cardinals sent the Brewers to their ninth straight loss with a 3-2 victory this evening at Miller Park. They have now won six in a row and own a four-game lead over Milwaukee in the National League Central.

The Cardinals got on the board first with a two-run single from Yadier Molina against Wily Peralta in the first inning. Kolten Wong added an RBI single in the third, which stood up as the difference in the ballgame. Making his first start since June 17, Michael Wacha allowed one run over three innings before giving way to the bullpen. Marco Gonzales allowed a solo homer to Rickie Weeks in his 2 1/3 innings of work before Seth Maness, Carlos Martinez, Pat Neshek, and Trevor Rosenthal finished off the victory.

The Brewers left 11 men on base in this one, so they had their share of chances, but the Cardinals held firm thanks to some excellent outfield defense. Jon Jay made a pair of excellent catches to rob Khris Davis of run-scoring hits. Peter Bourjos later added an impressive running catch on a long fly ball off the bat of Jordan Schafer in the eighth inning. It’s worth noting that the fly ball from Schafer came after a failed bunt attempt from Martin Maldonado with two on and nobody out, which would have moved a runner over to third base. It was that kind of night for the Brewers.

As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinelwrites, the Brewers led the National League Central by 1 1/2 games before the start of their losing streak. They now find themselves tied with the Braves for the second Wild Card spot.

The Brewers and Cardinals will play three more games this weekend. Mike Fiers will try to stop the slide for Milwaukee tomorrow night while St. Louis will counter with John Lackey.

Former Mets catcher Johnny Monell signed a contract with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization, per a report by Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The 30-year-old originally struck a deal with the NC Dinos on Thursday, but the deal appeared to fall through at the last minute, according to Cotillo’s unnamed source.

Monell last surfaced for the Mets during their 2015 run, batting a dismal .167/.231/.208 with two extra bases in 52 PA before the club DFA’d him to clear space for Bartolo Colon. While he’s had difficulty sticking at the major league level, he’s found a higher degree of success in the minor league circuit and holds a career .271 average over a decade of minor league play. He played exclusively in Triple-A Las Vegas during the 2016 season, slashing .276/.336/.470 with 19 home runs and a career-high 75 RBI in 461 PA.

The veteran backstop appears to be the second MLB player to join the KT Wiz roster this offseason, as right-hander Donn Roach also signed with the club last month on a one-year, $850,000 deal.

Brewers’ right-hander Phil Bickford received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a drug of abuse, per the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin. This is the second time Bickford has been suspended for recreational drug use, as he was previously penalized in 2015 after testing positive for marijuana prior to the amateur draft.

Bickford was selected by the Giants in the first round of the 2015 draft and was later dealt to the Brewers for lefty reliever Will Smith at the 2016 trade deadline. He finished his 2016 campaign in High-A Brevard County, pitching to a 3.67 ERA, 10.0 K/9 rate and 5.0 BB/9 over 27 innings.

Two other suspensions were handed down on Friday, one to Toronto minor league right-hander Pedro Loficial for a positive test for metabolites of Stanozolol and one to Miami minor league outfielder Casey Soltis for a second positive test for drugs of abuse. Loficial will serve a 72-game suspension, while Soltis will serve 50 games. All three suspensions are due to start at the beginning of the 2017 season for each respective minor league team.

We are very disappointed to learn of Phil’s suspension, but we fully support the Minor League Baseball Drug Prevention and Testing Program and its enforcement by the Commissioner’s Office. Phil understands he made a mistake, and we fully anticipate that he will learn from this experience.